Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Only, if only, today's modern golf rules numbered just thirteen, the original amount deemed necessary to regulate the game. They could be memorized and there would be no need to consult a Philadelphia lawyer when searching for a mid-round ruling. Why the game's arbiters have found it required to expound on simple concepts seems only a crutch to justify their existence.

1744 was the year that the ancient game of golf tied it's loosely held rules into a framework that forms the basis for today's modern rules. Naturally, a competition was the spark that drove the bus. Penned in Leith, Scotland by a local surgeon, John Rattray, the rules were assembled to regulate the chase for the Silver Club, one of the first recognized golf tournaments. The "Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers" sponsored an open competition seeking participants from all over Great Britain and Scotland. A compilation of the heretofore loose rules was needed to guarantee fairness in pursuit of the Silver Club. Hence the original thirteen tenets, ancestors to the R&A and USGA volumes that now govern the game.

The book is short, but precise in it's explanation of how golf rules evolved. It's an ideal mid-summer afternoon's escape. Reading the original thirteen demonstrates a direct link to our modern game. Most of them are still applicable with one of my favorites being #10, "If a Ball be stopp'd by any person, Horse, Dog, or anything else, the Ball so stop'd must be played, where it lyes." Still applicable if you replace the horse with a modern golf cart.

If you want an interesting read with proof that good things come in small packages then The Original Rules of Golf is a must get. Appreciating where we're at is many times just a matter of knowing where we came from.

The idiot that started this.

Avid golfer. Been playing in earnest for the last 13 years. Trying to figure out how to play the 50+ rounds I used to play before a recent career change.Open to any and all ideas. A member of the Golf Clubmakers Association, (GCA). I enjoy building and repairing clubs. I like dogs a lot. Big dogs. Cats are for other people to like.
Favorite Quote- "There's no way out of
here" -David Gilmour